2021-04-06 Do more houses hurt the Verde River
Description
Do more houses hurt the Verde River? Yes. Every new home consumes groundwater, diminishing the life-sustaining perennial flow in the Verde River – Arizona’s only surviving living river.
Despite the Verde’s importance, we are drying it up. The 2018 annual flow volume was 61% of the estimated flow in 1940. Some of that decline reflects persistent drought, but groundwater pumping takes a huge toll. Every gallon of groundwater pumped reduces river flow.